Feet up: There won't be much of this going on in the Australian Navy over Christmas

'Mothballing your ships for two months sends totally the wrong message to our region and to our allies,' opposition defense spokesman David Johnston said. 'I've never heard of anything like this. I'm flabbergasted.'

All 55 navy ships and submarines that are not on operational deployments have been ordered home for Christmas, and the number of sailors who stay aboard docked ships as sentries will be reduced to skeleton crews.

It is not clear how many how many sailors will take extra time off.

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio that the two months break for sailors, which begins December 3, is 'just a way of saying thank you and encouraging them to stay in the service.'

Fitzgibbon said a shortage of troops was the biggest challenge facing the Australian Defense Force and making their jobs more family friendly was part of the solution.

'The family-work balance is a very, very important part of the equation,' Fitzgibbon said.Navy Deputy Chief Rear Adm. Davyd Thomas said that the break will not adversely impact national security.

An Australian navy frigate would remain in the Middle East guarding oil wells over Christmas and seven patrol boats would guard Australia's northern waters from illegal fishers and smugglers, he said.

Two ships would also be on standby, one on the east and the other on the west coast, to respond to any emergency at sea, he said.

Thomas said the navy always had a shutdown period over the southern summer, although this one was longer.

'We're trying to become an employer of choice. We want people to want to be in the navy and want to serve here,' Thomas told reporters.

Thomas said he expected most naval personnel would take the time off.

Neil James, executive director of the independent security think-tank Australian Defence Association, agreed the shutdown was not radically different from previous years, although it was a few weeks longer and would involve more ships remaining in dock.

He said the length of vacation would vary depending on the individual and some could expect to be recalled at short notice.

He said military chiefs had been considering longer Christmas vacations for years because the navy has the worst retention rate of Australia's three military services.

'The bottom line driving this is the retention problem,' James said.

'If you look at the exit surveys of people serving in the defense force, the biggest single cause of dissatisfaction is family-work life balance,' he said.